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J.P. Sauer made a model 35 hammerless double rifle in 9.3x74r as well as several other calibers though I had only read about and seen pictures of them. The chances of me ever owning one were slim and none but I figured if I could ever find the right donor gun then I could talk my dad into making me a gun that would be very similar. I knew what I wanted and it was just a matter of finding the right gun. It took a couple of years but my donor gun turned up at a gunshow in Louisville Ky. It was a J.P. Sauer 16ga. boxlock made in 1925. It had everything I wanted. Triple bolting,suspended sears,scalloped frame,sideclips,rotary cocking indicators,carved cheekpiece,and horn triggrguard. The bores were not that bad and the wood had the usual dings and places,the checkering needed cleaned up and the butplate was broken half off. The triggerguard had some cracks and chipped places but the inlay in the forend wasn't damaged. Perfect for my project.

Once I got it I was ready to start but Dad didn't want to convert it saying it was too good of a gun to destroy. You can imagine just how well that set with me! It took about three months of persistant begging,whining, and general pissing and moaning to get him to relent. The very next day I made my move and sawed the barrels off before he could change his mind again. That proved to be a good move on my part as that's exactly what happened. WOW! He almost had a heart attack when I told him "too late" but now the dye was cast.

I'm going to post some pictures of the work as it progressed but I want to give a brief rundown of what was done first. I didn't take a lot of pictures in the beginning as I was mainly taking them for myself but then I thought about posting them here so I ended up with a bunch. I didn't even get a good picture of the gun before we started. My plan probably sounds crazy but I didn't want a new looking gun. I wanted it to look like an old gun that had been used but was in great shape. I planned on leaving the receiver as it was and just cleaning up the wood and checkering. Nice rust blued barrels would be acceptable though. I wanted a folding night sight on the front,a middle sight and I had hopes of some type of rear peep. I wanted claw mounts though I hadn't decided on a particular scope.

Dad got his yellow pad out and started figuring,measuring, and getting dimensions. He ordered two
douglas basic barrel blanks that would allow enough material to meet the diameter of the monoblock and be able to turn the right taper so that he could use the forend wood and iron without any major modifications. He ordered a PTC 9.3x74r reamer and a straight shank chucking reamer that would cut the out the taper of the original 16ga. chamber in the monoblock.

I started on the wood. I stripped it,steamed out the bad places,and cleaned up the checkering. I patched up the triggerguard with accurglass and fit a reproduction Sauer plate we had ordered from Galazans. Some day I'll find a nice metal plate with a trap for my peep and fit it.

So much for brief, let this be part one.

Edited by dale (08/10/08 05:05 PM)

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